On the 2024 campaign trail, Vice President Kamala Harris is faced with her past remarks, particularly those articulated during her 2019 presidential run. Harris’s progressive stances on immigration from the 2019 primary season are drawing renewed scrutiny.
A look at her 2019 responses to a questionnaire from the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund, uncovered by National Review, shows the extent to which Harris staked out left-of-center views on immigration. In her response, Harris supported a significant “overhaul” of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and called for a “moratorium on the construction and expansion of immigration detention centers.” Criticizing former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, she described ICE’s actions as “cruel and out of control,” pledging to review and reform the agency if elected president. Harris also highlighted her introduction of the DONE Act, which proposed added oversight for ICE and a moratorium on detention center expansion.
Harris’s office did not respond to requests for comment about the resurfaced questionnaire, which featured responses from other primary candidates, including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Julián Castro, and Pete Buttigieg. Despite these progressive stances, Harris struggled to gain traction with the Democratic left, which ultimately endorsed Sanders after she exited the race, explains National Review.
Since joining the 2024 Democratic ticket, Harris has adopted a tougher tone on crime, often referencing her prosecutorial background in addressing concerns about transnational gang violence. She frequently cites her experience handling crime as a prosecutor to appeal to moderates. On the debate stage, she has emphasized her opponent’s—former President Donald Trump’s—role in derailing a bipartisan border-security agreement, pivoting criticism of her own policies toward the GOP’s reluctance to pass comprehensive reforms.
However, Harris’s past rhetoric on immigration continues to pose a challenge. In another questionnaire from 2019 for the American Civil Liberties Union, Harris voiced support for ending ICE detainers, reducing immigration detention by half, and providing taxpayer-funded gender-transition surgeries for detained illegal immigrants. This record, resurfaced by Republican spending groups, has fueled negative ad campaigns that often quote Harris’s prior statements to question her commitment to immigration enforcement. In one such ad, Harris is shown describing illegal immigrants as “not criminals” and suggesting a “start from scratch” approach on ICE.
